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2013-14 Presidential Events Series Inspired by The Human Experience

posted on 09/12/2013

The 2013–2014 Presidential Events Series, The Human Experience: An Odyssey, emphasizes the philosophy that Eckerd's faculty imparts to first-year students, "Think critically about the world around you and your place in this world."

The first lecture of the series, "The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic," will be delivered by John Shelby Spong, former bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, NJ, on Tuesday, Sept. 17 at 7:30 p.m. in Fox Hall. Known as a voice of progressive Christianity for more than four decades, Bishop Spong argues that Jesus never spoke a literal word in the Fourth Gospel and that most of the characters that populate this Gospel's pages are literary figures, not historical figures.

This year's Presidential Events Series is inspired by Human Experience, a two-course sequence and the cornerstone of the first-year academic program at Eckerd College. This introduction to Eckerd's General Education curriculum provides students with a foundation in the liberal arts, an opportunity to examine the liberal arts more deeply, and a platform to awaken their scholarly interests. Through speaker presentations, the series will reflect ideas and concepts that inspire minds to move beyond illusive walls and barriers, compel an openness to new ways of looking at the world, and ignite an intellectual journey that transitions to a lifelong quest and adventure.

In addition to Eckerd's focus on the human experience, the 2013–2014 Presidential Events Series shines a spotlight on The Arts at Eckerd College by featuring the talent and creativity of Eckerd's campus community as well as artists from around the state of Florida.

Eckerd College is pleased to present the following lectures and presentations as a service to the community. Click on the title of each event for more information:

Talking About Race: Social Justice in a Time of Difference and IndifferenceWednesday, September 25, 7:00 pm, Fox HallPanelists:Raymond Arsenault, Ph.D., the John Hope Franklin Professor of Southern History, University of South Florida St. Petersburg, and Author of the Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice and The Sound of Freedom: Marian Anderson, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Concert That Awakened AmericaLenice Emanuel, Chief Executive Officer, YWCA of Tampa BayRonald Porter '05, Ph.D., Acting Director of Service-Learning, Eckerd College Moderated by Alizza Punzalan-Randle, Director of Community and Media Relations, Eckerd College

Why Can't We Speak with Dolphins?Thursday, October 17, 7:00 pm, Miller AuditoriumDr. Stan Kuczaj, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Psychology, and Director of the Marine Mammal Behavior and Cognition Laboratory, The University of Southern Mississippi

Behind the Beautiful ForeversWednesday, October 23, 7:30 pm, Fox HallKatherine Boo, Author of Behind the Beautiful Forevers:Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity and Staff Writer for The New Yorker

What Cells Will Do for Global Climate ChangeThursday, November 14, 7:00 pm, Fox HallTimothy Bromage, Ph.D., Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar, Professor of Biomaterials and Biomimetics and Director of the Hard Tissue Research Unit, New York University College of Dentistry